Irwin Cotler is a Canadian former minister of justice and attorney-general, and Canadian Counsel to Jimmy Lai. Brandon Silver is an international human rights lawyer and director of policy and projects at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.
Jimmy Lai, a hero of journalism in Hong Kong, is unjustly languishing in jail. And his trial will have repercussions for all Canadians.
Mr. Lai’s Apple Daily newspaper was raided and shuttered simply for practising journalism. For this crime, he is on trial for “sedition” and “foreign collusion.” If convicted, he may spend the rest of his life behind bars, after already suffering more than three years in solitary confinement since his arrest in 2020.
The 76-year-old’s case embodies the Kafkaesque nightmare that has engulfed Hong Kong since the 2020 enactment of Beijing’s National Security Law (NSL), which has been wielded as a weapon to suppress dissent and muzzle freedom of expression.
Since then, the NSL has been given extraterritorial application, with Hong Kong police issuing bounties in pursuit of pro-democracy activists who no longer live in Hong Kong. That means that any Canadian who so much as visits Hong Kong could theoretically be arrested for exercising their fundamental rights in Canada, whether it’s for posting on social media in Vancouver, writing a news article in Toronto or attending a rally in Ottawa.
Even speaking with Canadians disliked by the Hong Kong authorities can be a crime. Attending a virtual meeting with this article’s co-author, Irwin Cotler, was cited in Mr. Lai’s trial as evidence of criminality, as was the co-author’s advocacy on behalf of human rights and democracy in Hong Kong. The co-author and other members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China mentioned in court have not been asked to testify, despite their efforts to actively do so.
Hong Kong is rewriting history with the Jimmy Lai trial
Mr. Lai’s trial makes a mockery of justice, and offers an object lesson on the dangers of doing business in Hong Kong. From the false charges, to the denial of access to legal counsel of his choosing, to the handpicking of judges loyal to Hong Kong authorities, every step of the legal process has been marred by blatant violations of due process and judicial independence. At least one witness – pro-democracy activist Andy Li, who has been detained by the Chinese government since 2020 – was allegedly tortured. And Wayland Chan, once hailed as the prosecution’s star witness, has admitted to giving false statements to the police, and instead testified that Mr. Lai urged restraint among protesters. It all reveals cracks in the façade of Beijing’s manufactured narrative.
Whether from the British Foreign Secretary, U.S. Congress, United Nations special rapporteurs or the European Parliament, the outcry against Mr. Lai’s unjust persecution and prosecution has echoed around the globe. But with one of the largest Hong Kong diasporas living here, and with our second-largest expat community residing in Hong Kong, Canada has been especially outspoken. Both the House and the Senate passed unanimous consent motions condemning Mr. Lai’s unjust detention and calling for his immediate and unconditional release. Following discussions with a number of cabinet ministers, Canada spearheaded a joint statement of the Media Freedom Coalition decrying attacks against press freedom and local media in Hong Kong, as exemplified by Mr. Lai’s trial. His unfair trial also led Canada to change its business advisories to warn about the risks of doing business or investing in Hong Kong. And in February, a parliamentary subcommittee on international human rights held hearings on Mr. Lai’s case and on media freedom in Hong Kong, hosting expert witnesses and calling on Canada to take even stronger measures on behalf of Mr. Lai, including targeted sanctions under the Magnitsky law against his persecutors, trial monitoring, the issuance of travel advisories, diplomatic interventions at the UN and other multilateral institutions, and continued public calls for his immediate release.
“Hong Kong is brazenly cracking down on its citizens’ fundamental freedoms while lying to the world that it remains a rule-of-law compliant jurisdiction. They are doing so on the assumption that democratic countries, such as Canada, will turn a blind eye because of the size of China’s economy,” Jimmy’s son Sebastien Lai told that subcommittee. “The authorities also draw confidence to do so from judges from democratic countries, including Canada, who continue to sit on the city’s Court of Final Appeal. My father’s show trial is a blatant perversion of Hong Kong’s justice system to persecute one of the most honoured defenders of democracy.”
Opinion: My father Jimmy Lai may be on trial, but it's Hong Kong's future that's on the stand
Jimmy Lai is on the front lines of the struggle for our shared democratic values. By indicting him for defending media freedom, Hong Kong’s legal system is indicting itself. Canada’s leaders and legal community must continue to speak out and work to secure his freedom.